Gilbert police seize gun seen in viral video of man confronting skateboarder
Aug 19, 2022, 9:11 AM | Updated: 9:14 am
(Pixabay Stock Photos)
(Pixabay Stock Photos)
PHOENIX – Gilbert police said Thursday they seized the gun from a man seen pulling it on a skateboarder in a viral video, but they didn’t make an arrest.
The case will be submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for review when the investigation is completed, the Gilbert Police Department said in a statement.
The incident occurred Sunday in the parking lot of Compassion Church near Guadalupe and Lindsay roads.
The skateboarder reported it to police and showed them the video, which led to officers finding the suspect and confiscating the handgun as evidence.
Found the skater from the video & got the full story. He was arrested! pic.twitter.com/z76SHzA3CC
— TizzyEnt (@TizzyEnt) August 18, 2022
The case garnered national interest when the video was shared by a social media influencer known as TizzyEnt. The location of the incident was unknown when he first shared the footage.
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The clip shows the skateboarder grinding down a stair rail as a man gets out of his Tesla, which is parked slanting across two spaces.
The man pulls out a handgun and walks toward the skater. The man can be heard saying, “Get out of here.”
TizzyEnt reported in a follow-up video that the man was arrested, but police said that wasn’t the case.
The social media personality said he spoke with the skateboarder, who said he and his friends were making a video in an empty parking lot when the Tesla driver threatened them.
“By the next day he and his friends were like, ‘Yeah, this really isn’t OK,’ and contacted police,” TizzyEnt said. “Police went to the church. Church had security cameras. Security cameras had license plate. And that dude was arrested.”
Police didn’t say what, if any, connection the man has to the church where the incident occurred.
The skateboarder told TizzyEnt the man wasn’t associated with the church, according to the follow-up video.
“Just came there because he saw ‘punk kids skating,’” TizzyEnt said.
Some gun rights advocates condemned the behavior seen in the video as reckless.
“Being angry because a group of kids are skateboarding in a parking lot is far from an event that would require anyone to pull a gun, but as you see, that’s what happened,” wrote Brandon Curtis of Concealed Nation.
“This display of intimidation is unnecessary, likely illegal, and paints gun owners in a negative way.”
USA Carry covered it in a story headlined: “Don’t Do This: Irresponsible Gun Owner Draws on Skateboarder.”
